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It may be the first Pearl Buck film adaptation with a (nearly) all Chinese cast, but that's about the only distinguishing attribute of this sluggish historical romance. Clearly a personal project for co-star Luo Yan (who also produced and co-wrote the screenplay), the film has tantalizing possibilities that it never realizes. Madame Wu (Luo Yan) is one of those women who, upon turning 40, immediately understand that their role in marriage is unsatisfactory and are lucky enough to have a plan B: a concubine for her husband's "kinky" sexual tastes (he likes oral sex) and another man, a kindly priest, glumly played by a miscast Willem Dafoe. Dafoe has done nobility before, in Platoon and Light Sleeper, but he looks distinctly uncomfortable here and there's no chemistry between him and his putative romantic co-star. The dynamics of the Wu household -- the master dominated by his mother, his new young concubine drawing the interest of the household's teenaged son, who has been promised in marriage to another woman -- is enough for one film, but set this against the rise of the Communist party, the imminence of the Japanese invasion, and, oh yeah, the village getting electrical power, and you have several miniseries worth of material. Chinese films like Raise the Red Lantern and Farewell, My Concubine have handled the elements of this film with imagination and sophistication, but Pavilion's stilted dialogue, wooden acting (admittedly, Luo Yan does have some fine moments), and clunky staging drag it down to the level of Mystery Science Theater 3000 material.